True Crime

From the phone a young male voice said, “Division of Investigation, Hart speaking.”

I could hear something of a hubbub in the background.

“I’d like to speak to Inspector Cowley.”

“Inspector Cowley’s tied up. Can I help you?”

“Tell Cowley Nathan Heller’s on the line.”

“Sir, we’re busy here, could you—”

“Tell Cowley Nathan Heller’s on the line.”

There was a pause while he thought it over, then a sigh, and another pause while he fetched Cowley.

“Mr. Heller,” Cowley said, “let’s keep this short. Now what can I do for you?”

“Sounds to me like you’ve got a rather full house for a Sunday afternoon.”

“Twenty or thirty people, and it’s rather frantic; now what do you want?”

“What happened last night?”

“I didn’t think you were planning to be involved in this matter any further, at this stage of the game.”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened last night, Cowley?”

“If it’s the reward you’re after, I may be able to arrange a partial—”

“Fuck the reward, and fuck you, Cowley!”

There was a long silence.

Then Cowley said, “We met with Anna Sage last night. She promised to deliver Dillinger to us today. That’s all.”

“That’s all? Why didn’t she give him to you last night?”

“She didn’t expect to see him again till today. She and Polly Hamilton and Dillinger have a date of sorts to go to the movies together. At the Marbro. The features change today, you know.”

“This is stupid—Anna Sage knows where Dillinger’s been staying…it’s a swanky place on Pine Grove.”

“You know where he’s been staying?”

“Yes.” I gave him the address. I could hear his pencil scribbling it frantically down.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before, Heller?”

“It’s like I been telling you—I didn’t want to finger the guy because I wasn’t sure he really was Dillinger. I was afraid you guys might blast some poor civilian into Kingdom Come because he had two arms and legs and eyes, just like Johnny.”

“Well, this is Dillinger all right.”

“You won’t get any argument from me on that score. Otherwise I don’t know why Frank Nitti would want him dead.”

Cowley didn’t like being reminded of Nitti’s role in this; I could tell from the silence over the wire.

Then he said, “We’re waiting for a call from Mrs. Sage, any minute now, at which point we’ll go to the Marbro. There are continuous showings all day, and since this plan is in motion already, and we haven’t the manpower to spare for a spur-of-the-moment effort, we won’t be following up on this address, not at this time.”

“Use your own judgment.”

“Our plan of action for the Marbro is well under way. We sent agents over yesterday evening and we’ve made maps covering exits and entrances, alleys and fire escapes, and surrounding streets. We’re ready to put the plan into play when Mrs. Sage calls.”

“Why don’t you just go over to Pine Grove and see if Johnny’s home? Or why not just move into Anna Sage’s apartment till he shows up?”

Silence for a moment; embarrassed silence, I thought.

“Heller, uh…this is Chief Purvis’ plan and, uh, Mr. Hoover has approved it. I’ll make them both aware of the Pine Grove situation, and perhaps they’ll act on it. But I believe we’ll be following through with the Purvis plan….”

“What plan?”

“We’ll have agents on the fire exits and on either side of the front entrance. Chief Purvis will be on one side, Zarkovich on the other.”

That sounded like a cross fire to me.

“Why them?” I said. “I thought you told me you were going to see to it that Dillinger was captured, not shot.”

“Heller, last night when we met with Mrs. Sage, it was under what you might call cloak-and-dagger conditions. We picked her up on the North Side, drove a ways to a secluded spot along the lake, and I was with Captain O’Neill in one car, while Chief Purvis and Sergeant Zarkovich—and Mrs. Sage—were in the other.”

“What does that have to do with my question?”

“Simply that only Chief Purvis and Sergeant Zarkovich know Mrs. Sage well enough to recognize her…I wasn’t in the car with her.”